Goodbye
by MeredithBrody
Summary: He returned only weeks too late. So turns to the grave of his love to say his final goodbye, and in doing so. Tells her the story of how he fell in love with her.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Goodbye  
><strong>**Summary: He returned only weeks too late. So turns to the grave of his love to say his final goodbye, and in doing so. Tells her the story of how he fell in love with her.  
><strong>**Lyrics: What Makes A Man - Westlife**

**This a little twoshot. Starting in "What You Leave Behind". I'm not really sure how to describe it as, other than my muse deciding I need to write a sad fic tonight. This is one of my favourite Westlife songs. Mostly because it speaks to me. There is a second chapter to this one.**

**I got a lovely review from Dax yesterday telling me that I wrote DS9 beautifully. But I'll be honest, I still worry about not getting the characters right. So. Read, review and alert. Please!**

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><p><em><strong>This isn't goodbye<br>**__**Even as I watch you leave  
><strong>__**This isn't goodbye  
><strong>__**I swear I won't cry**_

She stood looking at him, and he can't help but turn back towards her for just a moment. He can see the tears in her eyes, and he knew that if it were possible for him, he'd be crying too. This wasn't what he really wanted. He wanted to be celebrating the end of the war with her. Planning a life with her. But he could do neither, and that was killing him. Tearing him apart. He wanted to believe this wasn't a goodbye. That he would find a way back to the Alpha Quadrant in her lifetime. He aimed to. But he knew he had to change a lot here first.

_**Even as tears fill my eyes  
><strong>__**I swear I won't cry  
><strong>__**Any other girl I'd let you walk away  
><strong>__**Any other girl I'm sure I'd be OK**_

He allowed himself to melt into the link, but he kept his senses tuned on her. He could still see her, after a fashion. He could certainly still hear her. He heard her wail. He sensed her sitting on the rock. Some time later, he became aware of her leaving. Suddenly he felt empty. He felt like he had lost a part of himself. The link was pressing him. Trying to understand his emotions. His attachment to the "solid" who had just transported out of his life.

_**What makes us so right  
><strong>__**Is it the sound of her laugh  
><strong>__**That look in her eyes  
><strong>__**When do you decide**_

He had never understood why he and Kira had worked as well as they had. As colleagues, as friends, as lovers. There had always been an easy give and take. She was headstrong, she knew what needed to be done, and had no problem doing it. He searched for justice, even in a system where justice wasn't valued. He had always loved her.

_**She is the dream that you seek  
><strong>__**That force in your life  
><strong>__**When you apologise no matter who was wrong  
><strong>__**When you'd get on your knees if that would bring her home**_

As the time passed, a year, two, ten. He didn't know. But he continued thinking of her often. He thought of the things he would say to her when he saw her again. He wanted to find out about the life she led without him. Did she marry? Have children? Time travelled so differently in the link. What was one minute for her may have been a year for him, or vice versa.

_**Other girls will come along they always do  
><strong>__**But what's the point when all I ever want is you  
><strong>__**Tell me**_

When the time came to leave again. He knew he had to see her. That was going to be his first stop. He set off with a small contingent of guards, for the wormhole. He was unsurprised to see a shiny new station where his beloved Deep Space Nine had once been. He was pleasantly surprised to find the Admiral in command of the station was Nog. He felt an odd stab of pride at that. He then learnt that over 70 years had passed since he left. Nog arranged for them to go to Bajor, where Odo hoped he'd be able to trace Nerys.

_**Tell me what makes a man  
><strong>__**Wanna give you all his heart  
><strong>__**Smile when you're around  
><strong>__**Cry when you're apart**_

"I'm sorry Odo" were the first words out of Jake Sisko's mouth. The boy he remembered was no longer a boy. He was a 92-year-old man. "She died peacefully, in her sleep. She's buried beside her father and brothers"

"Did she marry? Have children?" he asked, looking at the picture Jake had handed to him. He could see the soul of the woman he loved through the years. He could hear her laughter in his voice/

"She married more than a decade after you left, and had two children. Kira Itab, and Kira Odo. She married a human, called Torv. He and Nerys separated when the children were small." Odo let a smile out, hearing what she had named her children. He hoped to meet them one day. Maybe Jake would be able to arrange that

"You?" he asked, wondering how Jake knew all of this suddenly, even as he struggled to understand. His love was gone, and now he had no idea where his life would go

"I live over the ridge with my family, in my fathers house. She missed you Odo. Every day we spoke of you" Jake said quietly. Resting his hand on Odo's shoulder. He felt energised by the weight of this man's hand. The man that had been a boy when Odo had last seen him.

"I missed her" he confirmed, looking out of the window.

"Do you want me to take you to her?" Jake asked in a sympathetic voice, and Odo just nodded, unsure he could say anything else.

_**If you know what makes a man  
><strong>__**Wanna love you the way I do  
><strong>__**Girl you gotta let me know  
><strong>__**So I can get over you**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: Goodbye  
><strong>**Summary: He returned only weeks too late. So turns to the grave of his love to say his final goodbye, and in doing so. Tells her the story of how he fell in love with her.  
><strong>**Lyrics: I Don't Wanna Know - New Found Glory**

**I'll be honest. I didn't expect this to come out as sad as it did. Apparently after my sweet P/T one, my muse decided that separating K/O forever was all it could do. Also the acoustic version of this song is really sad, and I don't know why. Read and Review as always.**

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><p><em><strong>Your eyes were covered in sunglasses<br>**__**When they first met mine**_

He had come to the grave for one reason. To prove to himself that Jake was telling the truth. That she had passed away. Peacefully, in her sleep only a few weeks earlier. Jake had been there, at her request. He'd told him the stories. They had remained close throughout her life. Now, Odo had come to say a final goodbye to his soul. The second he saw her name inscribed on the funeral arch he knew it was real. Jake had clapped him on the shoulder again, the walked away.

"The sizzle of electricity I felt told me that you weren't just any other girl. You were someone special. You were someone who was going to bring a lot into my life. I have no idea how I knew that all the way back then. So long before anything could have happened, and before I could have possibly known that you would be the woman I would spend my life with. I'd known though. I'd always known somehow."

_**I sat there and stared at you  
><strong>__**You didn't seem to mind**_

"I hadn't taken my eyes off you the rest of the night. Even as you ate and talked with other people. The Bajorans. The people you were comfortable with. I'd known somewhere deep down that I already loved you. On some level. The level I tried to ignore. A level I didn't even allow to exist for years."

_**The awkward ways we meet**_

"How stupid I was, Nerys. Stupid and short sighted"

_**I never cared how I dressed before  
><strong>__**But I cared that night**_

"That night, after the debacle at Vic's. We'd gone to the Bolian restaurant. I'd sat and watched you eat again. I was so nervous. I couldn't decide what to wear. I didn't think my standard uniform would be appropriate. But I couldn't decide on anything else. I ended up in that stupid blue shirt that made you laugh. How I loved hearing your laugh."

_**Anticipation ran through my bones  
><strong>__**And my clothes never fit right**_

"It didn't seem to matter what I tried, it never seemed right. It never fit like it should It always looked wrong, or felt wrong. I gave up in the end, and just met you wearing the last thing I tried. I was almost shaking with nerves. I never understood why. It wasn't the first time we'd been alone, or eaten a meal together. It was completely ridiculous. But I couldn't convince myself of that."

_**I can't wait til we meet again**_

"That night, everything seemed to go perfectly. I was happy"

_**Framed pictures start to be put on the wall  
><strong>__**Constant visits while I'm out on the road**_

"You started bringing trinkets to my quarters, placing pictures in frames around both our quarters, it was a wonderful reminder of the woman I had. I had you, and there was no woman that would be able to beat that. We had been through so much together, you and I. You were my best friend, and the woman I had loved since the minute I saw you. You accepted me even when you knew what I was, what I tried not to be. You just loved me regardless."

_**It's hard to leave sometimes  
><strong>__**But you know where I lay at night**_

"Saying goodnight to you, or being without you while one of us was away with the captain was always hard. Then, I was struck by the changeling disease. I told you to go back to Cardassia. I told you that Damar needed you more than I did. We both knew I was lying. But that it was also true. The Cardassian resistance had needed you. But being without you in the last days of the war. When we learnt what was happening on Cardassia. I was afraid I would never see you again."

_**First comes heavy breathing  
><strong>__**Staring at the ceiling**_

"Then I left. I made the decision to leave you. To end the war, I also ended what we had. I had never known if I would come back, and you'd never known either. But you waited for me as long as you could. Until you met someone else who loved you. I'm glad to know you lived a happy life in the end. I'm just so sorry I didn't come back in time to tell you all this in person. I hope that you can hear me, if you're with the Prophets. That you really were happy. I'm just sorry. Because even now. I love you."

He ended his discussion and the dusk was falling. He blew a final kiss to the only woman he had ever, or would ever love. Proud that she had found some fulfilment in life. He also resented himself. He had left her, and now he would never hear that laugh again. That voice. Instead of leaving, he returned to his liquid state, and rested beside her for the last time. His thoughts flicking back 70 years, to the time they were happy, they were comfortable together. When he resumed his shape, he knew that he wouldn't return to her house tonight. He may never return again. He had once told Nerys he wanted her to remember him the way he was. Now he was going to remember her the way she had been. That would be his final gift to her, and all he could do for that. Was ensure a lasting peace.

_**What will happen next  
><strong>__**I don't wanna know**_


End file.
